Senior Living Behind the Curtain, Part 1

This week, we're going to open up the hood, peel back the curtain, and talk about what goes on behind the scenes at senior living communities. And we're honored to have conversations today with two incredible C-level executives here at Chateau Retirement. Jason Brooks, the Chief Operating Officer of Chateau Retirement, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show from Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood.

Jason says, "We've been family owned from the beginning. And having that family ownership really translates down to treating people with love, dignity, respect. We feel like our job is to take care of our employees, because we know that a happy employee who loves where they work, who has been there forever, is going to treat the resident better... Literally 25% of our workforce have been here ten years plus.

"We really want to bring in people who have a real cultural fit, have a real caring sense to them, a real sense of wanting to to serve and do well for other people. If they need to learn how to be a better server or be a better caregiver or be a better maintenance guy, we can teach them all of that. What I can't teach somebody is to care. I can't teach them to have that heart. They have to kind of come by that a little naturally."

Jason adds, "You also have to be very responsible with your growth and your trajectory. You know, we're 25 buildings, we're looking at expanding here shortly again, but we've built three buildings in 25 years. It was very steady. It was very purposeful... Unfortunately, there's a lot of companies that get into, 'the Silver Tsunami's coming!,' so they want to build as quickly as they can and capture as much of that as they can. And then they end up either being highly leveraged or they don't actually own the property. They're managing it for somebody else. So they don't actually get to make the call. Jim [Godfrey]’s always kept a very conservative fiscal approach to everything, which has really allowed us to do the right thing by our employees and by the residents from day one.

"There's a couple of different [financial] models out there, right? Some people are beholden to Wall Street, because they're publicly traded. And as share prices dip, they have to make sacrifices financially, and cut back services and programing. Or somebody comes in, at their management company, they could be a management company and have to report to several different ownership groups. And then it gets really complicated, because you can't have the same programing if you can't fund things all the same. If you're if you're a management company for multiple people, building A and building B, even if they're in the same town, may be completely different. It could be a completely different culture that's being run through there, because of how they have to manage the financial aspect of the business."

Family-owned Chateau Retirement is Greater Seattle's expert in senior living, with a legacy of success in its culture, tenure, and dedication of staff to its residents. This episode was recorded at Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Washington.

Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton.

Visit them online or call 800.960.1944. Also visit Chateau's specialist page on Answers for Elders to hear more of their shows.

Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s...